WORLD cross country champion Benita Johnson narrowly missed breaking the long-standing Australian ten-mile record in Sunday's BUPA Great South Run.

Given no help whatsoever by the strong winds whipping off the Solent, Johnson was nine seconds shy of Lisa Ondieki's 1987 mark around the Portsmouth course.

The weather, and the fact she was running on her own for almost the entire second half of the race, slowed her to a winning time of 52 minutes and 32 seconds.

Johnson broke away from her rivals after four miles to complete a fine double, after winning last month's Great North Run.

She finished 24th overall in the mixed race, and added: "I was running in a vacuum after five miles, although I stayed motivated but couldn't quite catch the guy ahead of me.

"As I'm also into a heavy training programme for next month's New York Marathon I also felt a little tired from those preparations."

She easily held off the challenges from Jessica Augusto and Rahab Ndungu.

Augusto finished runner-up in 53min 17sec while Ndungu of Kenya, who won last weekend's Swansea 10km race, was two seconds behind the Portuguese athlete.

Johnson was full of praise for 20-year-old Charlotte Dale, the first British woman across the line in an event boasting a restricted entry ceiling of 15,000.

"She's definitely going to be a future star," said Johnson.